......
>Early Anatolian and Tyrrhenian languages attest to the fact that the *-s
nominative was not as widespread as it later would come to be. There is also
the matter of IE compound word formations which attach a bare stem to
another before terminating with suffixes, as if the bare stem was the
earlier state of affairs. Inanimates also don't have this *-s marker and
some have no endings at all. If we can accept that an earlier IE had no
animate nominative *-s, .....
All this is interesting but very difficult stuff to me. One question. Not
too silly I hope. Beekes thinks the -s of the nominative could have come
from an earlier ergative (which in many languages is expressed by the
genitive, cf. German "von" in passive constructions). Inanimates could not
easily have been ergatives IMO. Glen, IYO could this explain why earlier IE
had no nominative *-s?
Marc Verhaegen
http://www.flash.net/~hydra9/marcaat.html